How To Become a Financial Executive

Do you consider yourself to be someone who is very good with money? If so, you’re not exactly the norm in this country.

The vast majority of Americans say that they are not all that good with money when it comes right down to it. According to a recent survey, less than one-third of people say that they’re “financially healthy.”

With this in mind, you should take advantage of the fact that you’re good with money when launching a career. You might be able to make it as a financial executive if you play your cards right.

So, what is a financial executive? And how do you go about becoming one? That’s what we’re going to talk about today.

Here are the steps you’ll need to take to put yourself on the path to becoming a financial executive.

Start by Learning About What It Is That a Financial Executive Does

You might like the sound of turning yourself into a financial executive. But before you attempt to do it, you should make sure that you know what a financial executive’s job responsibilities actually are.

A financial executive is someone who works in upper management at a company and takes care of all of their different financial concerns. They’ll routinely take on tasks like:

Overseeing a company’s income and expenses
Monitoring all of the financial transactions that a company makes
Suggesting ways in which a company can improve profitability

Essentially, a financial executive is a person who is in charge of controlling all the money that a company brings in and spends. It’s a very important job since a financial executive could ultimately make or break a company based on their job performance.

Read Up On Some of the Most Famous Financial Executives

Now that you know what it is that a financial executive does day in and day out, you should take a few moments to find out about some of the famous financial executives who work throughout the country. It’ll provide you with an even better understanding as far as just how important financial executives are.

Here are a few of the financial executives that you need to know about:

Warren Buffett
Abigail Johnson
Jamie Dimon
Michael Bloomberg
Steve Schwarzman

You should read up on these people to get a feel for how they’ve made an impact on the financial industry. You should also follow some financial executives on social media to keep up to date on their accomplishments. Prabir Purohit is one great example of someone you should be following right now.

See What Your Financial Executive Salary Will Be

Money shouldn’t be the only motivation that you have for pursuing a particular career. But at the same time, you should have some general idea of how much money you’re going to make in a specific field before you spend time trying to obtain a job in it.

You’ll be happy to know that working as a financial executive can potentially be very lucrative for you. It’s not uncommon at all for the financial executive salary to top $100,000 in many cases.

You might not start off making that much money when you first become a financial executive. But there is plenty of room for growth once you become a financial executive, which could lead to you making well over $100,000 before everything is all said and done.

Earn At Least a Bachelor’s Degree in a Finance-Related Field

At this point, you know what a financial executive does and how much one can make. So it’s officially time to get down to business and show you how to transform yourself into a financial executive over time.

It’s all going to start with you securing at least a bachelor’s degree in a finance-related field. This bachelor’s degree can be in business administration, finance, or even accounting.

You might also want to take things to the next level by obtaining a master’s degree. A lot of employers who are hiring financial executives these days want to see that they’ve achieved the highest education possible within their field.

You might not necessarily need to sign up to take classes so that you can earn a master’s degree right away. You may want to spend some time working in the finance field before doing this. But it’s good to at least consider the possibility of going for your master’s degree in the not-too-distant future.

Begin Training to Be a Financial Executive by Gaining Real-World Experience

Once you have a degree in one of the fields that we just mentioned, you might think that you’re ready to work as a financial executive. But prior to getting to that point, you’re going to need to gain lots of real-world experience to show that you have what it takes to work as a financial executive.

To get to where you need to be, you might want to kick things off by locking down an internship while you’re still in college. From there, you’ll then want to pursue one of the many financial careers that are out there, like getting a job as an accountant or a financial analyst.

Your goal should be to do whatever it takes to get as much experience as you can. The more time you’re able to spend working with numbers while on the job, the better off you’re going to be over the long run.

Consider Earning Different Financial Certifications

You’re obviously not going to be the only person at a company trying to become a financial executive. Many of the people who work in the finance field have their eyes on the prize and want to work as a financial executive one day.

As a result, you’re going to need to find ways in which you can make yourself stand out. One great way to do it is by trying to earn different financial certifications while you work in the finance field.

For instance, you might want to try to get your hands on the coveted Chartered Financial Analyst designation. You might also want to earn the distinction of being named a Certified Public Accountant.

We aren’t going to lie to you: Getting these certifications won’t always be easy! You’ll need to put in a lot of long hours studying to pass the exams associated with these certifications. But it’ll all be worth it in the end when you have certifications that differentiate you from other financial executive candidates.

Continue to Pad Your Resume With Financial Careers

As you’ve no doubt noticed by now, you aren’t going to be hired to work as a financial executive overnight. Most people have to spend years toiling away in the finance field before getting their big break and interviewing to become a financial executive.

You aren’t going to be able to skip the line by any means. But you can give yourself a chance to at least get in line for financial executive jobs by padding your resume with lots of financial careers. You should do your best to work your way up the ladders at the different companies that you work for.

While you do it, you should also aim to make connections with those at every level. By networking with other people within the finance field, you’ll get to know a lot of the people who are going to turn into the important decision-makers at different companies in the future.

Some of these people might be the ones deciding whether or not to hire you to work as a financial executive for them. It’s why it’s good for you to get to know them better before they reach that point.

Keep an Eye Out for Financial Executive Opportunities

As long as you do everything else that we’ve talked about here, you should eventually build up your name and reputation within the finance field and feel comfortable enough to begin applying for financial executive jobs. You should keep an eye out for any opportunities that might appeal to you.

You should then put some feelers out and see if you might be a good candidate for any of the jobs that you find. With a little luck, you’ll be working as a financial executive in no time at all, just like you set out to do back at the beginning of your career.

Start Working Your Way Towards Becoming a Financial Executive

Landing a job as a financial executive at a company is one of the best jobs that you can have at it. But before you can do it, you’re going to need to put in a lot of legwork.

We’ve laid out the steps that you’ll need to take here to make the process of becoming a financial executive easier for you. All you need to do is follow them and work as hard as you can to make it as a financial executive in the end.

Want to get more useful career-related advice? Find it by checking out all the other informative articles that we’ve put up on our blog.